/*
 * Copyright (c) 2011-2013, Peter Abeles. All Rights Reserved.
 *
 * This file is part of BoofCV (http://boofcv.org).
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package boofcv.abst.sfm.d3;

/**
 * Interface for Visual Odometry (VO) algorithms.  VO estimates the camera's motion (egomotion) by tracking
 * the locations of image features and by applying geometric constraints.   The motion estimate is relative
 * to the camera's reference frame.  In a multi-camera system the specific implementation specifies which
 * camera the motion is relative to.
 *
 * @author Peter Abeles
 */
public interface VisualOdometry<M> {

	/**
	 * Forget past history and tracking results, returning it to its initial state.
	 */
	public void reset();

	/**
	 * If a fatal error occurred while updating its state then this function will return true.
	 * Before more images can be processed {@link #reset()} must be called.  Only needs to be
	 * called if process returns false.
	 *
	 * @return true if a fatal error has occurred.
	 */
	public boolean isFault();

	/**
	 * Returns the estimated motion relative to the first frame in which a fatal error
	 * does not happen.
	 *
	 * @return Found pose.
	 */
	public M getCameraToWorld();
}
